Should I fire the cleaning lady or give her another chance?

I have a cleaning lady come every other week. When I interviewed her, she gave me a flier listing everything she would do and her price, which is very cheap. The first time she came to clean, our air conditioner went out. Things were not done 100% well, but I put it off to the air being off and didn’t blame her, it was hot! I also tipped her very well and told her to please feel free to reschedule if it was unbearable. (I live in the deep south) The next time she came, she didn’t do hardly anything on her own list such as mop my kitchen, clean the shower, clean the blinds, clean my glass coffee table, the glass door had a haze, and she vacuumed around some throw pillows that were on the floor from an unmade bed and her list says she changes sheets. Sounds to me like she would make the bed? I don’t want to fire her because I don’t want to be mean, but I feel like she took my money and ran. Should I give her another chance and list specifically what she didn’t do and what I want done and give her an opportunity to redeem herself or cut the cord? Thanks.

14 COMMENTS

  1. On more shot to prove herself. You’ll know for sure if she is really worth her advertisement or just lazy. If she balks at being fired, just remind her of her advertisement and tell her she did not live up to it.

    I’m betting she gets fired.

  2. It sounds like you’ve already given her two opportunities to show you what she can do and she failed to impress you. Don’t waste your money, fire her. Don’t let her think that she can get away doing a subpar job. I don’t think things will get better if you don’t change something. If you really don’t want to fire her at least say something to her about the things she is missing.

  3. I would give one more chance but leave a list. Ask her to follow the list and talk to you if there is any problems. Changing sheets is not the same as making the beds. If you want her to change the sheets leave them on the bed to be changed and make sure that’s on the list. If she can follow the list and you don’t mind making it, then keep her. If she is too much trouble or doesn’t follow it…tell her why and say see ya. And in my opinion I would not lie or make up excuses for your letting her go as was suggested by others. She needs to realize her poor work habits were noticed.

  4. Sorry I’d tell her I no longer needed her services, but nicely. Site budget issues or something – the first time cleaning is as good as it gets, from now on it’ll get less and less each visit until you are doing all your cleaning and she is still getting paid. The longer you wait the harder it will be.

  5. It’s not being mean to expect someone to honor a contract. She represented herself as providing A, B, and C for a price. You agreed to those terms. She is a slacker. I can guarantee you in this economy there are dozens of women and men lined up to do an excellent job cleaning your home as scheduled, as agreed. give her the boot and move on. Next time, get references, tho’.

  6. well, say to her anything she has done that she mustn’t but give her a chance, only one… if she did not change, well, i’m sorry but you need to fire her….

  7. tell her yull give her another chance, but at the end of the day inspect things and take her list with yu. point out the things she didnt do and deduct that small bit from her pay for everything she DIDNT do.

  8. Cut the cord. If she is this bad right off the bat, she will only get worse. If you tell her, she may do it better for a while, but it will eventually go downhill. Save yourself time and find someone good now.

  9. If she can’t or won’t do the job you hired her to do FIRE her and get a new cleaning person.

  10. I don’t think you should fire her because you can never know what’s going on in her life. However, you are paying her to do her job, so politely ask her to do the things she said she would do.
    If she fails to do them then you can consider finding a new cleaning lady.

  11. Be a Tough Guy/Girl, but give here another chance, but tell her to get her ass n work more properly or she fired n going straight to hell

  12. Give her one more chance as I feel you cannot be mean even if you tried!, make a list of all the things you want done in your home and the days you want it done and if this is not how its going to go then you are defiantly left with no other option are you? !

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